


Summoned By My Soul

by Aaven



Category: Finder no Hyouteki | Finder Series
Genre: Blood and Injury, Demon!Asami, Demonic Possession, M/M, Occult, Summoning
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-25
Updated: 2020-11-25
Packaged: 2021-03-09 23:00:19
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,758
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27703810
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aaven/pseuds/Aaven
Summary: It was just supposed to be harmless superstition and curiosity.It wasn't supposed to be real.How could he have known it would unlock something that never should have been reopened?
Relationships: Asami Ryuichi/Takaba Akihito
Comments: 12
Kudos: 90





	Summoned By My Soul

Akihito didn’t understand why his two best friends were dragging him on their journey into the occult. But between his hazy memory between beer five and eight from the night before and the recording Takato played back for him in the morning had boiled down to them using his curious nature towards the unknown against him. That, and he never wanted to miss an opportunity to watch his two best friends make absolute morons of themselves, which is why he found himself standing outside the last of the few mystic shops in the red light district. The worn and, more than a little, faded sign overhead read out _‘_ **The Abyss** ’.

“This is gonna be the one guys, I can feel it!” Kou exclaimed with hands on his hips, and a broad smile stretched across his face.

The rundown looking building between two taller ones looked anything but like ‘ _the one_ ’, and more like the second they stepped foot inside, the whole structure would collapse on top of them.

“That’s what you said about the last two,” Akihito muttered, grunting when an elbow connected with his ribs in retaliation. Takato snorted as he watched his two friends' antics.

“Hush non-believer, now onward!”

The trio hurried forward and through the door as a sudden clap of thunder rumbled over their heads. The weather had steadily turned gloomy as they made their way from shop to shop, and now it seemed the approaching storm was upon them, much to Akihito’s annoyance. This was certainly not something he wanted to do during one of his rare days off, but a promise was a promise, and he always made a point never to break one once said. The bell above the door announced their arrival to the person operating the register.

An older bespectacled man with close-cropped hair greeted them with a low ‘ _welcome_ ’. The man looked like he belonged there about as much as an elephant in a china shop, though it had nothing to do with his somewhat unnerving blank face and more to do with the fact he was wearing a well-tailored three-piece suit. All the other shops they’d visited had employees dressed in more loose and flowy fabrics, but Akihito supposed each business ran differently.

“Shouldn’t you boy’s still be in school?” The man asked, one eyebrow raised and a deep frown tugging the corner of his lips down as he made a show of checking the large wall clock hanging on the wall beside the register. “We don’t service anyone under twenty.”

“We’re college students.” Takato was quick to respond before either of his hot-headed friends could cause a scene. “We all have our IDs if you need them.” Already reaching for his wallet, he made sure to elbow both of the others so they’d follow suit. Kou quickly copied his friend with a pout at being mistaken for a high schooler, but Akihito just crossed his arms and gave a stern glare out of spite.

“Will you follow your friend’s lead kid, or are you a high schooler who just likes to follow around with the big boys?” The man asked, his blank expression unwavering, but his eyes held the barest hint of irritation upon Akihito’s apparent attitude.

“Maybe if I find something interesting to buy, I will.” Was his clipped response, turning away to peruse the shelves while his friends made quick apologies for him and showed their college IDs before joining him on the other side of the store. “What are you two even looking for anyway, because as far as I can tell, they have the same type of stuff here as the other places except covered in a layer of dust.” Akihito finally asked after a few minutes of poking around, only to wipe his hands on his pants when they came away dirty.

“Well, we were hoping for there to be a-” Kou started but stopped as they passed a curtained door opened just enough to see into the next room. “A book section!” He exclaimed and made to move towards the doorway but was blocked by someone suddenly coming out.

Akihito looked up, and _up_ to see that it was a man in much the same attire as the register clerk, but this one had blond instead of black cropped hair and no glasses.

“Oops, sorry!” Kou was quick to bow towards the employee but only received a low grunt in acknowledgment before the larger man moved around the group to head towards his coworker. “Well, that was rude...”

Takato and Akihito both shrugged and passed through the curtain into the next room to see the whole place covered wall to wall with bookcases overflowing with books. A few precariously piles littering the floor around the corners since the shelves were too stuffed to fit anymore.

“Bingo!” Kou exclaimed once he’d joined them, only to flinch when a harsh shushing sound came from the main room. “Sorry.” He called softer before quickly moving to look around.

The trio took their time reading over all the titles, carefully picking up ones without one to see what was written inside. Many were in other languages or written in runes. In contrast, others didn’t have anything inside, which Akihito and Kou found peculiar until Takato informed them that they were more than likely empty _Book of Shadows_. Eventually, Akihito grew bored and, as usual, decided to wander by himself. Giving an offhand remark to his friends, he moved back into the main room when he got two hums in acknowledgment.

The area looked the same as a few minutes prior though something in the air had shifted as the feeling of being watched made phantom fingers trace over his spine. Moving around, he kept an eye out in his peripheral for anyone suspicious but could only find the two employees talking among themselves, the rest of the shop empty. Looking out the window, Akihito saw that the clouds had finally settled over Tokyo, and the rain was coming down steadily, hitting the window with a soft prattle that hardly caught his attention as something in the reflected window moved behind him. Turning to see if his friends had reentered the main room as well, a feeling of unease settled over him when he found nothing. Even the two employees had disappeared off somewhere he couldn’t see.

Peeking around a nearby display case, he noticed that something had fallen off a shelf towards the back wall from the register. Neither employee seemed to see, so Akihito walked to the item to pick it up. Upon further look, it appeared to be another book, though why it wasn’t with the rest was puzzling. Checking the spine, in a neat, flaking gold script, was a loopy title in a language he couldn’t read.

_Hm, interesting_. Turning it over, Akihito noticed that this book looked handmade compared to the others that had been ordered off a press. Flipping through a few pages, he saw hand-drawn diagrams, summoning circles if he remembered right, with words and symbols scribbled into the empty areas around each, further cementing his earlier thought. _Maybe that’s why it’s out here instead?_

Checking the wall to see if he could find where it had fallen from, Akihito was surprised to see that the shelves consist mostly of incense sticks, cones, and essential oils with burners. Looking over the display case more thoroughly to see if it had come from there, his search still turned up empty.

“Did you find something _interesting,_ kid?” A voice came from behind, making Akihito startle. Whipping around, he came face to chest with the clerk from earlier, but now this close, he could see an employee plaque pinned neatly to the front of his suit jacket with the name _Kirishima_.

“Ah, no,” Akihito said, holding up the book to show the employee. “This fell, and I can’t find where it goes.” Kirishima looked at the book with an impassive expression, but Akihito saw something in the man’s eyes change before a glare from his glasses obscured it before he could tell what it was.

“I see.” Making no move to take the book back, Kirishima moved back towards the register to crouch behind the counter. In seconds he was standing again. Knowing what he was looking for, Akihito could see he was now holding an old-looking box with a few symbols on it that he’d seen inside the book. “This goes with it.” Was all he said, handing it over to a baffled young man before disappearing back to where he and the other employee must have gone. 

“Wha-” Akihito stuttered, looking between the box, book, and where Kirishima had been. Before he could find his voice to call the employee back and explain that he didn’t want to _buy_ the thing, both Kou and Takato materialized on either side of him with matching expressions of curiosity.

“Whacha got there, Aki?” Kou asked, grabbing the book from his friends' loose grip to investigate while Takato took the box. “Oh, this is exactly what we were looking for!” He exclaimed as he looked over all the diagrams.

Akihito turned his attention from him to the other blond to find Takato with a confused and slightly disturbed expression on his face. Moving closer so he could see over his shoulder to look into the box, he saw what had his friend so weirded out. Sitting nestled in a wine red velvet was what looked like a… _necklace_?

“What the fuck?” Takato whispered.

“The clerk, Kirishima from his name tag, said it goes with the book,” Akihito explained absentmindedly as he moved to look closer at the necklace. “But why would a weird necklace go with a book like that?”

“I don’t know, dude, but it’s giving me creepy vibes like you wouldn’t believe. Maybe we can buy just the book…?”

“They must be sold together.”

The trio jumped as the giant from the book room snuck up on them like Kirishima had done to Akihito before.

_Damn, for someone so big, he sure can be quiet,_ Akihito thought as he clutched his chest in a bid to get his heart to calm down. Looking for this man’s plaque, _Suoh_ said the pinned a bit more down his suit jacket. _Probably so people wouldn’t have to stand on their toes to look for it otherwise_.

“Uh, well we-”

“It was the request of the previous owner that both the book and collar be together,” Suoh explained monotone.

“Collar?!” All three exclaimed.

“Yes.” Came the brisque answer.

“Why would a book need a _collar_ for?” Kou stuttered.

“The previous owner didn’t specify but simply said it must not be sold separately,” Suoh explained.

He looked between the three friends, but Akihito felt like the blond’s eyes lingered on him a bit longer than the others, though that could have just been his imagination playing tricks on him, considering he felt uneasy.

The trio shared looks among themselves, silently trying to figure out what they should do. The book was perfect; exactly what they’d been looking for all day. It was the extra attached to it that was making it hard to decide whether it was worth purchasing or not.

“If it helps,” Came Kirishima’s voice, now back at the register. “Since it is a very odd combination of sorts-”

Akihito snorted quietly. _Understatement of the fucking year_ , he thought.

“For the inconvenience of such a troublesome perchance, we have made sure that that particular set is a special two for one. Or, I suppose a buy one get one free is a better way of putting it.” Kirishima continued. “So all you would be buying will be the book instead of its unfortunate companion. Plus, once it’s yours, the collar is yours to do with as you wish; we only pass on the previous owner’s request that they stay together though we can’t force you to do so. Only heavily imply that you should.”

_Well_ , they all thought, _that didn’t sound_ too _terrible._ Even if they didn’t particularly want the extra item, it was nice to know they could simply get rid of it without wasting money.

“I guess,” Kou looked towards the others to make sure they were all on the same page. Receiving hesitant nods of confirmation, he turned back towards Kirishima. “We’ll take the set?” Wincing slightly when it came as more of a question than an answer, the employee didn’t comment and simply started typing a few keys into the old looking register.

“Will that be cash or card?” He simply asked, raising an eyebrow when he saw that none of the boys had moved to check out.

Akihito was the one to snap out of it first and grabbed both items from his friends to make his way towards the counter. “Card’s fine.” He said once he’d sat both down for Kirishima to do whatever he needed to do, pulling out his wallet to get ready to pay.

“Six sixty-six, please.”

Akihito gave the clerk an unamused stare that was met with a similar deadpan expression.

“Really?” He asked.

“Yes.” Kirishima looked almost pained to have to agree with him. “Unless you’d rather have it be-.”

“Nope, I’m good.” Akihito was quick to give his card to swipe while Suoh went behind the counter and wrapped everything up.

The box with the collar in a drawstring bag with the shop’s logo stitched on the front while the book got wrapped neatly in tissue paper. Suoh started to pull out a paper bag, but a loud bolt of lightning followed by thunder made him pause for only a second before tucking that away in favor of grabbing a plastic version of the same bag.

“Aki, you weren’t supposed to pay!” Having shaken out of his stupor, Kou appeared back at Akihito’s side. Fluttering his hands around at having his friend pay for the thing he wanted.

“Eh, it’s not that much money. Besides, now I can say you owe me food.” Akihito smirked at his friend, who whined in protest.

“But-”

“Here.”

The bag shoved unceremoniously into his arms cut off whatever Kou was about to say.

Looking over his other shoulder, Akihito found Takato silently watching them and decided now was as good a time as any to leave. “Let’s go. I’m starving.” He said to get the other’s attention. Turning away from the counter, he looked over his shoulder after a few steps and gave the two strange employees one last look before heading out the door. Once Kou and Takato had joined him, they all made a break for it in the subway direction, Kou making sure the bag was protected from most of the downpour.

***

Back at Kou’s, after they’d eaten and dried off from the rain, the three sat in a circle at the low table in the living room. The book and box in the middle for all to see.

The rain had morphed into an all-out storm on their way back. Making a steady stream of noise as it battered against the windows and roof with intermedes of thunder and flashes of lightning, so the silence wasn’t deafening.

“Well, what do we do now?” Akihito asked after a while. “You two said you knew how to do this or whatever; I’m just here to watch you idiots fall flat on your face.” A foot kicked him under the table, but he just grinned through the pain.

“First, we need to figure out which summoning circle we want to try.” Takato finally spoke after a few more beats of silence, leaning forward to grab the book to look through it since he was the only one who hadn’t yet.

Kou made himself busy by getting up and grabbing a box that had come in a few days earlier from a popular occult website. Akihito started pulling things out once placed next to him.

“This one looks kind of cool?” Takato said to get his friend’s attention. Laying the book open, he pushed it towards them. The intricate-looking design reminded Akihito of looking up at a dragon as it was in a spiraling descent.

“That does look cool,” Kou said.

“Yay.” Akihito agreed, though, as he continued to study the design, a feeling of unease like back at the mystic shop made a shiver pass through him. Was it just him, or did it almost look… familiar? A clap of perfect timed thunder made another shudder but of foreboding pass through him.

“You cold, dude?” Takato’s question quickly made him look away from the circle and to his friend.

“Ah, a little. We did get pretty soaked after all.” He laughed off his discomfort and was quick to turn his gaze away so neither could see that he was lying. If anything, he felt a bit warm.

_I hope I didn’t catch a cold. I have many shoots scheduled in the coming weeks, so it would be troublesome to get sick suddenly._

When everything was out of the box and arranged on the table, the trio went about figuring out what they would need for this summoning. Akihito, having the steadier hand out of the three, got stuck with looking over Takato’s shoulder when he took the book back to draw out the circle with some chalk that was thrust into his hand.

“From what I can read…” Takato muttered, looking from the book to the table, picking up a few things to set aside while scrutinizing others, seeming to try and decide if they’d need it. “We’ll need five candles, salt, a few herbs, and…” Squinting to try and make out the next two words before his eyes grew wide. “Some type of blood?”

“ _Blood?_ ” The other two froze in their tasks to parrot back, lightning momentarily making the room brighten as well as cast a harsh shadow over Takato’s face.

“I think?” He stuttered, bringing the book closer to hopefully see if he was reading it wrong. The scribble was almost illegible, and hard to figure out which language it was from. All the others had been an amalgamation of Old English, Latin, and some bits of scattered Germanic. But these words didn’t seem to match any of those languages and were causing him difficulty translating.

“Do these things need _blood_ for them to work?” Akihito asked in slight horror. He wasn't squeamish by any means, horror was his favorite genre after all, but this just seemed unnecessary and extra in the worst way.

“It’s my best guess, and yes, depending on what you’re doing, it can involve blood. That’s usually saved for the heavier and _darker_ shit, though.” Takato mumbled, finally taking his nose off the page. “So we’ll need someone to bleed into the bowl,” Pointing to said bowl that he’d put aside next to the candles. “After that, the salt and herbs will be crushed into the mortar and pestle before combining. We’ll need to carve these symbols into the candles,” Moving the book to show the pictures in the corner of the page. “Finally, we drizzle the mixer over the candles carefully after placing them in the correct spots, then light them.” Looking between both sets of wide eyes, he couldn’t blame them. This was a bit heavier than what they were going for to start with.

“I volunteer Aki.” Kou piped up, receiving the piece of chalk to the head and an angry comment about idiots’ blood being better. A quick game of rock, paper, scissors offered up from Takato stopped the skirmish from turning into anything physical, and after two games, it was decided that Kou would be the one to bleed into the bowl when both blonds noticed him cheating.

They decided to do that last so that there wasn’t a chance of him bleeding everywhere while trying to get everything else situated. In the meantime, Kou ground everything into powder while both blond’s worked on the candles. The only clean cutting utensils being one steak knife and a random bread lame. Kou didn’t know where it came from, though his best guess was one of his ex-girlfriends had left it behind.

“Do either of you even know what these symbols mean?” Akihito asked absentmindedly, the lame slicing through the wax like butter.

“I know that these,” Takato pointed to a few of the symbols in particular. “Are meant to keep whatever’s summoned trapped inside the circle.”

“Isn’t that what the one’s _inside_ the circle are supposed to do?”

“Sometimes, but other times the circle is just for summoning only, and extra precautions are required to be drawn in, around, or added too to make sure nothing… unsavory escapes that shouldn’t.”

“Then shouldn’t we be doing one that _doesn’t_ require that kind of precaution?”

“Aw, Aki, are you starting to believe and get scared we might summon a big bad scary demon or something?” Kou teased from where he was checking out the circle on his living room floor. The herb powder sitting on the table next to Akihito, ready to be used when the candles were finished.

Akihito felt a nerve twitch above his eyebrow. “No, I’m not scared, dumbass. I just want to make sure you don’t- _Fuck!_ ” In an act of habit, Akihito had turned to face his friends since he couldn’t see him, and a perfectly timed thunderclap had caused his hand to shift, making the lame move from wax to flesh. Dropping both the candle and lame with a loud thud from both, he quickly moved towards the kitchen to stop the bleeding. The water hitting the wound caused a sharp hiss before he could stop himself.

“Do we need to take you to the hospital?” Takato was right at his friend's side with Kou not too far behind with the first aid kit from the bathroom in hand. “Shit, that looks deep.”

“It’s not that bad,” Akihito replied automatically. However, he couldn’t tell how bad it was with tears blurring his vision in reaction to the pain. “I’ll be fine as long as there’s gauze, bandages, and disinfectant.” He missed the look his friends shared, but he didn’t need to to know they had. They weren’t best friends for nothing, after all.

“Well then, let us take a look.” It was Kou who moved to carefully take the hand from the cold water to check the damage.

They all winced at the cut, but surprisingly Akihito was right upon further inspection that it wasn’t so bad. Though it started near the juncture of his thumb and pointer finger and then made a curve around the thumb and across his wrist, it wasn’t that deep. No stitches required, thank goodness.

The trio decided to move back into the living room so that Akihito could sit and keep his hand up in the air while it was wrapped to help slow down the bleeding more. An old dish towel fished out of the cupboard was used to stave off the blood flow for the moment. He watched as Kou set about getting everything cut and laid out, so all he’d have to do is grab what he needed without hindrance while Takato had come back with another towel to try and clean up the blood on the floor.

“Sorry guys-” He tried to start, but a sharp pinch to his cheek made his stop.

“Don’t even start. I shouldn’t have distracted you with a razor in your hand,” Kou said seriously.

“Um, guys.” Both looked up just as Kou instructed Akihito to remove the towel to see Takato looking down at something on the table.

“What’s up?”

Instead of answering, Takato picked up the bowl he’d been staring into to tilt and show them what he was seeing. Pooling with the powdered herbs was a generous amount of blood.

“How…?” Akihito mumbled. He hadn’t thought he’d bled _that_ much, checking around the table and where he’d been sitting showed only a small splatter and dotted trail leading to the kitchen.

“Aki, your hand!” In the shock of seeing the blood, the towel slipped, causing more to drip down his fingers to the floor.

“Shit, sorry!” Akihito acted quickly to put pressure back on the cut while Kou grabbed the medical tape and gaze he’d put down temporarily.

Once the wound was securely wrapped, all the blood was cleaned up and areas sanitized where it had fallen. The next question among the trio was what to do with the bowl.

“If you don’t want to use your blood for this dude, then we can rinse out the bowl and just redo the grinding.” Takato offered when he saw the pinched look on his friend's face at the sight of his blood.

“Yay, I was just kidding earlier. I’m fine with doing the blood thing since this was our idea and not yours.” Kou chimed in next.

“No, it’s… I’m just…” Huffing at himself, Akihito turned to look at his friends. “How did I bleed this much without realizing it? And why did it all conveniently land inside the bowl but not anywhere else on the table?” The looks he received told him they were asking the same thing but unsure if they wanted to know the answers.

“Seriously, dude. We ordered a lot of stuff so the herbs can be easily replaced, and I have plenty of bowls in the cupboard-”

“We can use what’s in the bowl, Kou.” Akihito gave a long sigh that sagged his shoulder forward. “No use wasting it if we already have it, plus it’ll save us from having two unnecessary injuries instead of just one.” He tried for a reassuring smile that all of them knew was a bit too forced to be genuine. Kou and Takato shared a long look before turning back to Akihito.

“I guess…”

“If you’re sure…”

Setting up went by quickly after that. They drizzled the blood/herb mixture over each candle using a spoon after placing them in their proper places. Each sat on mismatched saucers so melted wax and runoff wouldn’t end up all over the floor in another mess to clean up later.

“Ready?” Takato asked once everyone was in position.

“What about the collar thing?” Kou asked suddenly.

The trio turned to the box that sat untouched since being set down on the coffee table. They’d collectively ignored it up until now. Kirishima’s odd behavior towards it made none of them want anything to do with it.

“I’m not wearing that, and I’m not forcing either of you to either,” Takato said with a roll of his eyes, turning back to check over the words he’d be reciting shortly. Running them over in his head just to make sure he knew where each language ran into each other while testing a few words out to make sure his accent wouldn’t come through too thickly and clog up the summoning. “Any more questions or concerns?” He asked once he was sure he could go through the words without issue.

“Nope.”

“I’m good.”

“Then let’s get started.”

Takato made his way around the circle, lighting each candle wick with a long-necked lighter before turning off the lights. Meeting both Akihito and Kou’s eyes for one last confirmation, he took a deep breath and began.

“ **Lord of the Abyss** , ”

Akihito was startled when the words weren’t in a language he didn’t understand. _Maybe he’s translating so we can understand him?_

“ **_We call onto you and plead an invitation to join our circle,_ **”

The flames flickered around the circle on a warm whisper of air that caressed Akihito’s skin.

“ **_Master, we wish to form a contract,_ **”

_Master? Contract? What is he talking about?_ Taking a glance at Kou, Akihito found that he looked just as confused as him. _At least I’m not the only one_.

“ **_And in return, the one you’ve lost_ **-”

An abrupt and unnerving pause followed the sudden cut off of words. Even the sounds of the storm outside had ceased. Looking at Takato, he looked dazed as his eyes seemed to move over the page unseeing, no words coming from his slightly slack-jawed mouth.

“Takato?” Akihito hesitated, wondering what had made his friend stop speaking. The flames gave another jerk, but this time in the opposite direction from the first. Seeming to flinch away from Takato and towards the sound of his voice.

“You okay, dude?” Kou tried reaching across to touch his friend’s shoulder, but before his fingers touched his shoulder, Takato’s voice resumed once more.

“ **_The one you’ve lost shall be returned at last._ **”

The ‘ _at last_ ’ was lit by a silent flash of lightning, or maybe the sudden ringing in his ears drowned out the usual sound of it. Akihito stared wide-eyed, certain that the face he was looking into was not his friend. The facial structure was correct, and the angles the flames illuminated were familiar. Still, there was a shadow masking Takato that made something instinctual inside him wish to run and hide.

_Escape_ , a small voice whispered brokenly inside his head, _before it’s too late_.

A gasp to his other side made him break the eye contact he hadn’t even realized he’d been making with Takato to see Kou slumped over himself in what looked like pain.

“Kou!”

Without thought, Akihito lurched forward when he saw his friend beginning to fall, uncaring that he’d stepped inside the summoning circle. Catching Kou just before his head hit the floor, he turned to say something to Takato, but the words died at the back of his throat.

Takato looked back at him, but it _wasn’t_ his friend, blazing golden eyes instead of soft brown giving everything away.

They’d fucked up.

“ _Finally_.” That voice wasn’t Takato’s either; far too deep, it was almost like a purr instead of actual words.

“Who are you?” Akihito stuttered out, shifting Kou so he could shield him while still holding him up. “What did you do to them?”

“Oh,” Tossing the book away now that its purpose was over. “Just exactly what they’d asked for.” Was the simple reply.

“Asked-” Stopping himself when he remembered the words from only a few moments ago. “A contract?” An amused hum was his answer. “But what-?”

“Check that one’s right hand.”

He didn’t want to look away from Takato, or what _looked_ like Takato, but his friends were always saying his curiosity would get him killed one day. Plus, he held onto a bit of hope that whatever was going on was just one big ludicrous nightmare or daydream or _something, anything_ but the reality it seemed like. Reaching behind to find Kou’s hand, he had to shift so that he didn’t accidentally make the other fall the rest of the way to the ground when he moved it into view. Looking down, he turned the hand front and back, a small black dot catching his attention in the center of the palm that he knew hadn’t been there a few minutes ago.

Fingers under his chin startled him, making him jerk his attention up to the person now standing over him inside the circle. Another hand was shown to him, this time Takato’s, and it had the same black dot in the palm’s center.

“What does it mean?” Akihito whispered, shifting his gaze from hand to eyes.

“It means,” The fingers moved from chin to gently stroke a cheek. “That the contract has been accepted and completed.”

Akihito didn’t know what to do. Carefully placing Kou’s hand back so that his own was free, he turned away from the piercing gaze to check his palm.

No black dot.

_What?_

Shifting again to get his other hand free instead, he carefully moved aside the bandage to check that one, and again, no dot.

“Why don’t I-?”

“Payment.”

Looking back up in surprise, Akihito found a smile filled with too many teeth that made chills race up his spine. “What?” He finally got out after a few stunned seconds.

“Payment.” Not Takato repeated. “They wished for a contract, and the price was stated in the summoning, which was given.” It was said so matter of factly that he almost didn’t catch the implication of the words.

“I’m payment,” Akihito whispered in shocked realization. The smile that had seemed so distorted on his friend's face seemed to grow until it looked close to splitting his face in two.

“Oh,” It cooed at him. The fingers were back, but this time they slipped through his hair in a mock soothing touch. “Believe me; you are so much more than that.” The light touch in sandy blond hair suddenly tightened to force his head back, a hiss of pain coming in surprise as his friend's face came close. “I’m through playing this game of cat and mouse with you.” Was hissed into his ear.

Lips covered Akihito’s before he could protest, the kiss dominating and painful. He could taste blood as sharp teeth sank into his plush bottom lip. The resulting gasp from the pain let a probing tongue pass to start exploring as it wished. Sending a silent apology to Kou, he released his friend's dead weight so that he could use both hands to attempt to push the body looming over him away. But it was useless. He knew he could beat Takato in wrestling, but whatever or whoever was inside his body now was making him stronger so that all of his efforts seemed more like harmless nudges than the forceful pushes he was trying for. Black spots started sprinkling throughout his vision as he began to run out of air, pounding fists turned into desperate grips on his friend’s shirt.

Finally, he was released on the cusp of passing out, but even with the first gasp filling his lungs, he could still feel himself beginning to slip under.

“ ** _I’ll make sure this time,_** ” A touch of bloodied lips at the corner of each eye made Akihito realize tears had begun to spill during the kiss. “ ** _You will never leave my side again, little angel_**.” A whimper bubbled in Akihito’s throat at the whispered possessive promise in those words, and weakly tried one more push before all his energy left him like a puppet suddenly getting its strings cut. “ ** _Shh, kitten. It’ll all be over soon._** ”

The rest of Akihito’s vision tunneled, and at the center of the spiral was burning gold.

_A predator who had finally captured its prey_ , was his last thought before even that intense gaze was turned black in unconsciousness.


End file.
